Florence – too bella for its own good

Of course we hurried. This was the troublesome young artist so famed in Naples. Long dead we thought so why here in Florence.

“Caravaggio!” The male voice was raised, impatient.

A pigeon in Florence

The voice, we discovered, echoed out of a small art studio and belonged to an anxious young man in a cravat. An older gentleman was beside him surrounded by expensively framed paintings.

Which was Caravaggio? We peered through the doorway forgetting our intrusion. Neither of the distracted men paid us any attention.

“Caravaggio!” This time it was a definite order and seemed to be aimed straight at us. We backed away and … then we saw him, hopping along the floor towards us.

Caravaggio was a large, independently-minded pigeon who looked like he had just decided to flop off his perch and make a break for freedom.

There was a brief scuffle of well-dressed shoo-ing and scolding from the two men until Caravaggio finally agreed to return to the back of the shop. Then the door was firmly closed.

Finally … personality amongst the works of art.

Palermo Chapter in Florence

Celebrity status is known to be a mixed blessing with privacy its biggest casualty. If you happen to be a city there’s no way you’re going to get any privacy and that, as always, must take its toll on personality.

Florence, so beautiful and so famed, has no place to hide.

On our two-day visit in November everyone seemed to be there hurrying between attractions. How did the city feel? Unbalanced and a little stressed … at least until the Palermo Chapter of the HOGS rode into town, there for the fun of it.

A bride heading for the Ponte Vecchio on a weekend in November 2014

We seemed to bump into them everywhere as they posed for selfies in amongst the antiquities. They were just beside us as we met this bride heading for Florence’s most famous bridge.

Florence is not a big city, it has a population of around 400,000, and many of its best-known sights are within a short walk of each other. That means that when the tourists are in town, over 7 million of them each year, with specific places to visit the heart of the city seems to stop. One academic paper I found put the number of annual visitors to Florence seven years ago at 32 million.

It’s easy to see why everyone keeps coming. There’s plenty to visit but the art, and not the people, are the point.

Just another street

View along the Arno in Florence

The glories of Florence

Piano in a piazza

Blocked in by tourists

Art for everyone in Florence

Shop window

San Lorenzo market

So – worth a visit? Yes, if you want to ‘do’ Florence but don’t underestimate the crowds.

Warnings – there are two types of predators in Florence:

1) aggressive beggars particularly around the Duomo;

2) mosquitoes – large and persistent, especially at night.

The best way to visit? My recent visits have both been from Naples. It’s three hours by train on the Frecciarossa or about four hours by car.

View along the River Arno in Florence

Tips: I’d suggest spending a night either in the city or close by. That way you’ll be able to walk its piazzas in the early morning and at night when you should have a better chance of some space.

We spent one night at the guesthouse Casa Howard, which is an easy walk to the main sights. It’s not a hotel so is able to charge less for fewer staff and no meal options. Once you’ve met the concierge and collected the key to your room you’re free to come and go through its huge, unannounced entrance as you wish. Reasons to stay there: the rooms are as individual and unexpected as you could possibly want. I can’t speak for them all but ours to the back of the house was comfortable and quiet.

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Authors:

Georgie Knaggs - Editor

About The Phraser:

This year, 2018, The Phraser’s focus is books – I love them! I’ll look at what’s in their pages, their writers and publishers, and at those who sell them, lend them, and read them. If you’ve any suggestions please let me know. Past posts are on travel, conservation, the arts, and extraordinary ordinary people.